Theory Y vs. X

Fellow Bleary-eyed bloggers I'm back again, to kick some old-school science on the IT/Management subject and hopefully engage and entertain - folks please remember this is a blog not a forum for pieces of your life thesis - i.e free format characteristics are appreciated. I know we have a tendency in business school to write everything as if its being presented to a client. You can still write blog-style without appearing to be a high-functioning

Soooo we had a guest speaker this week in class - I love guest speakers BTW, its pretty cool to hear from different people about interesting aspects of their work lives - does that make me like a work-oriented voyeur? Probably not, because that would imply I sneak into other peoples classes to observe their guest speakers.. right? Sorry for the sidebar but I'm like puppy in that way.... All salivary glands... no focus. So our guest speakers topic was a subject near and dear to my heart - the stages of employee development and a a distinguished theory regarding the different types for management.

Basically there is this management theory developed by Douglas McGregor in his 1960 book "The Human Side of Enterprise" that says there are two types of managers in business - those who think everyone hates their job and needs motivation by reward and punishment and they only work fro money and job security i.e. your employees would rather be doing anything else besides working for you and first chance they get they'll shank you in the breakroom over the last Diet Coke in the vending machine (Theory X). On the opposite side of the fence McGregor states there are those managers who believe that work can be as fun as drinking with your frat brothers... Theory Y introduces the notion that if work is challenging and stimulating to the individual then they can align their goals with the organization and they won't require the old carrot/stick method to get work done.

Sioux (our guest speaker) made an interesting point when she stated that a lot of Theory Y goes back to something I covered in last weeks blog about Generation Y (not a coincidence I guess) - motivation in work and how managers can better achieve it. When we talked about the MBA graduates who stated they valued increased responsibility and self direction in their work over monetary compensation that jived directly with Theory Y. Sioux (like me) thinks that Theory Y involves engaging your employees and determining what type of work activities really get them motivated. Figure out if they're better suited to other positions our projects within your organization and make sure their personality gels with job - you might get more out of them and they may work harder and better because of their interest and appreciation.